Feb. 23, 2012
SoCon Championships Day One Results 
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- At the end of the first day at the 2012 SoCon Indoor Track and Field Championships, the men's team is in second with 50.5 points and the women are in sixth with 20. Appalachian State leads both the men's and women's standings through six scored events. Michael Seaman won his third consecutive indoor pole vault title, while four others set school records in Thursday's events.
"I think we put ourselves in a good position to see what happens," said Head Coach Rod Tiffin. "We had some really good events today and scored a lot of points in some events, but we fell back in some other events so it will be a battle tomorrow and we knew that coming into this weekend. It's just like it always is, you're never going to have a perfect meet
"We'll see how it turns out tomorrow. We still have hopes to be in the top three, if not the top two or one. It's going to be a war tomorrow."
Michael Seaman won his third-consecutive indoor title in the pole vault with a SoCon meet record height of 17-10.5 (5.45m). Samford put all their competitors in the top eight, with Owen Wagoner in second (16-0.75, 4.90m), Ryan Cook in fourth (15-7, 4.90m), Bo Ackerson-Gilroy in sixth (15-1, 4.60m) and Cory Sears in eighth (14-7.25, 4.45m). In total, the group accounted for 27 of Samford's 50.5 team points on the day.
In the men's high jump, Samford placed two in the top three, as Tyler Kemp and Bo Ackerson-Gilroy finished back-to-back in second and third with identical heights of 6-8.75 (2.05m) to make it onto the podium. Bob Elliot II and Donald Cooper finished with identical heights of 6-4.75 (1.95m), adding 4.5 more team points to the Bulldogs' total.
In the women's pentathlon, Ashley Cope and Macy Conger combined for 12 team points, with Cope placing second (3,449 points) and Conger placed fifth (3,308 points). Cope's total is a new school record, beating her previous best of 3,391 set earlier this season.
In the women's distance medley relay, the team of Chelsea Treadway, Marie Demedicis, Anna Irvine and Holly Benson crossed the line third in 12:06.47. The men's distance medley finished fourth, as Ramsey White, Brad Bostic, Henry Stevens-Carty and Layton Dorsett crossed the line in 10:17.71.
Katelyn Poole tacked on a team point in the women's shot put, placing eighth with a best toss of 40-4 (12.29m) on her final toss of the day. Emily Allen did the same in the women's long jump, placing eighth with a mark of 16-11.5 (5.17m).
Through four of the seven events in the men's heptathlon, Samford has placed all five competitors in the top eight, including a sweep of the top three spots. Ackerson Gilroy leads the pack with 2,968 points, earning wins in the long jump (22-1, 6.73m) and high jump (6-6.75, 2.00m). Donald Cooper is in second with 2,776 points, earning a win in the 60-meter dash 7.12. Josh Davies is in third (2,669 points), helped out by a win in the shot put (41-5.25, 12.63m). Freshman Cody Russell is in sixth (2,414 points) and Brad Bostic is in eighth (2,238 points). The heptathlon will conclude tomorrow with the 60-meter hurdles, pole vault and 1,000 meters.
Both of Samford's competitors in the men's 60-meter hurdles will advance to Friday's finals, as Ackerson-Gilroy (8.33) and Cavan Corcoran (8.43) finished back-to-back in third and fourth, respectively, in Thursday's prelims. In the women's race, Julie McDonald advances to Friday's finals with a new PR (2nd, 8.66), as does Ashley Cope (6th, 8.92).
In the men's 60-meter dash, Justin Emerson set a new school record, winning the prelims in 6.80 to qualify for tomorrow's finals. Samford moves all three competitors into tomorrow's finals in the men's 400-meter dash, as Jonathon Bush set a new school record in third at 48.85, while Alex Richter (49.00) and Stevens-Carty (49.39) followed in sixth and seventh place, respectively. Richter and Emerson also move on in tomorrow's 200-meter dash finals, finishing fourth (21.97) and sixth (22.18), respectively, in Thursday's prelims. Richter's finish is a new school record, beating the old mark by two-hundredths of a second. In the women's 400-meter dash, Jessica Watson advances after running a personal-best 57.45 in the prelims, which ranks third all-time at Samford.
Layton Dorsett and Ramsey White both move into tomorrow's 800-meter finals, finishing back-to-back in third (1:54.96) and fourth (1:55.10), respectively.
Day two of the SoCon Championships begin at 9:15 a.m. tomorrow at the Birmingham Crossplex.
